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The Northern Triangle temperate forests occupy the southern slopes of the Namkiu Mountains, the easternmost extension of Himalayas, and extend southeast along the Patkai Range on the border between Myanmar and India, in Kachin State and Sagaing Division of Myanmar, an area that is part of the Golden Triangle. The mountains run north to south towards the central plain of Myanmar and the forests lie between 1,830 and 2,700 metres in elevation. The Chindwin, Mali, and N'Mai Rivers all have their sources in these mountains and run south to join the Irrawaddy River.

The main plant communities of the Northern Triangle temperate forests are broadleaf forests and mixed forests. The forests are diverse, blending plants characteristic of the tropical floras of the Eastern Himalayas with those of Assam, the Indian subcontinent and Indochina and the temperate floras of the Himalayas and China and even some relict plants of the ancient continent of Gondwana. Furthermore the Northern Triangle Temperate forests have been little explored by scientists since the work of Frank Kingdon-Ward in the 1920s and 1930s and their biodiversity is likely underestimated.

The ecoregion is home to a single endemic mammal species, the Gongshan muntjac(Muntiacus gongshanensis) possibly along with another muntjac deer, Fea's Muntjac. The Rusty-bellied Shortwing(Brachypteryx hyperythra) is the ecoregion's only known endemic bird species but the forests are important habitat to many other bird species while both birds and mammals have crucial migration routes up and down the mountains through different types of habitat including these temperate forests.

Because these steep mountainsides are so remote the forest is largely undamaged, but they are also unprotected and as the hill tribe population increases they are liable to be cleared for logging and to make space for planting.